Continuous Lighting for Photography
The Benefits of LED fixtures
If you ask a professional photographer about their go-to lighting kit, you’ll probably be led down a path of strobes and on-camera flash guns.
They are time tested tools of the trade with bright, efficient, and adaptable lighting applications. However, as the demand for digital content continues to rise, Aputure has received a growing interest not only from filmmakers, but from photographers as well; each looking to expand their lighting toolkits and harness the benefits of high-output, continuous, LED fixtures.
I recently spoke with Ray Kay, a Korean fashion photographer and filmmaker, about his decision to use Aputure LS 300D II lights on a recent shoot…
THE PROJECT: ISOLATION
Ray’s clients range across a number of high-end brands and magazines such as CHANEL, MNET, and Vogue Italia. But as COVID-19 continues to spread around the world, Ray took time out to use the pandemic as creative inspiration for an independent project titled ISOLATION.
Through an emotional series of photos and videos, Ray expresses the visual effects that isolation can have on us both physically and mentally.
“I wanted to express someone’s mental exhaustion in isolation, and I wanted to enhance it through our location and model choices.” -Ray Kay
BEHIND THE SCENES
To capture the images, Ray chose a Fujifilm GFX50S for digital reference stills and a Mamiya RZ67 with Kodak Portra 400 film for the final project photos. He also took the opportunity to test the Sony FX9’s capabilities for supporting the video side of the shoot.
I asked Ray about this choice to use both formats for the project and how the demand for this combination has increased in his professional workflow.
“In our current time, content is overflowing and consumed quickly through social media. So clients and magazines want to create pictures and videos at the same time, not just pictures. Artists get tired more and more from the demand on their time. Time is always running out, but there’s more content to create.” -Ray Kay
Ray continued to discuss equipment flexibility as a major factor for saving time on set when faced with a multi-format shoot and keeping up with the demands of photography. The simple tip? Light once, not twice.
“I thought it would be nice to have a continuous light that is as efficient and portable as flash lights, as I have to work on video and photography at the same time. So when I first used the Aputure 300D previous version, I literally clapped my hands” -Ray Kay
In total ISOLATION took less than 5 hours from start to finish (including 1 hour for makeup).
THE LIGHTING SETUP
To fulfill the need for continuous lighting, the crew utilized a number of Aputure LS 300D IIs LED lights and modifiers. Ray chose the Fresnel 2x and Spotlight Mount accessories specifically for their ability to produce a quality hard-light source and create the deep contrast seen in the final results of the project.
SPOTLIGHT MOUNT
Described as one of his go-to modifiers, the Spotlight Mount is a Bowens Mount ellipsoidal projection tool for precise light shaping and beam focusing.
It was used in ISOLATION to motivate natural sunlight through the windows, both on and off-camera.
Below, you can see the dramatic contrast Ray achieved with the 300D II & Spotlight Mount combination; it results in both an increase in light intensity and precise light shaping around the subject.
FRESNEL 2X
The Fresnel 2x was also used throughout the shoot to focus the key light’s beam angle and create a soft ceiling bounce.
When used in combination with a second lighting unit, it helped introduce a more subtle fill light that reduced the contrast for scenes away from the window. This helped sell an ambient overhead light that is dramatic but less intense than the hard window light we saw earlier.
Below is the result of the 300D II & Fresnel 2x creating an overhead bounce to motivate a top light source. This effect helped support the mood by causing deep shadows under the subject’s eyes.
RESULTS
Ray really enjoys the process of working with constant lights for photography:
“What I see I can take pictures of… every step on set you can see what’s going on. It is very efficient, inexpensive, easy to transport, high quality, and reliable equipment. For me, Aputure is an innovation and a gift. It’s is my go to light. There’s nothing to consider.” -Ray Kay
Despite starting as an independent passion project, the final images were featured by Vogue Italia and Photovogue.
You can keep up to date with Ray’s projects and check out more of his work at www.ray-kay.com.
